My two cents worth... The cotton cloth would not scratch the coin, but any grit on the coin would be scrubbed around and that might. If the coin is anything less than XF or so, I would be less concerned about "wiping". The acetone rinse (btw, none of that deut... whatever stuff, use that for thinning paint or something) is not a bad idea to remove oils, but not really usually necessary. Make sure the coin is clean, make sure the 2x2 is clean, put it in.

I had a proof coin that arrived from the mint with a little dust once. I was planning on grading it. I wiped it off with a new clean cloth. Well, long story short, I decided to not send it in for grading, haha. Left imperfections on an otherwise perfect coin.

Serious? This thread has been full of bad news for me. I got hundreds of pieces in those cheap vinyl flips. Coin in one side. Description & info in the other side. I mean hundreds! Are they causing unwitting damage to my coins???

Serious? This thread has been full of bad news for me. I got hundreds of pieces in those cheap vinyl flips. Coin in one side. Description & info in the other side. I mean hundreds! Are they causing unwitting damage to my coins???

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Are you sure they are vinyl? Vinyl would be really soft and a bunch of them together would smell like a shower curtain. Quick test to check, shave off a wee bit of the 2x2, heat a copper wire up in a flame and touch the plastic shred so that it melts, return the wire to the flame and a green color indicates chlorine (halogen) which tags it as PVC (Polyvinylchloride or "vinyl").

Are you sure they are vinyl? Vinyl would be really soft and a bunch of them together would smell like a shower curtain. Quick test to check, shave off a wee bit of the 2x2, heat a copper wire up in a flame and touch the plastic shred so that it melts, return the wire to the flame and a green color indicates chlorine (halogen) which tags it as PVC (Polyvinylchloride or "vinyl").

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Just because they are soft doesn't mean it's PVC. I buy flips that are advertised as non-PVC. I guess I'm just taking the word of the supplier so maybe I'm putting too much trust in their word.

An acetone dip is good.
It will remove most of what isn't obvious.
Latent fingerprints, oily debris, etc.
Plus since it's a liquid fine particulates (dust, smoke, etc.) will get washed away.

But acetone is a PITA to use.
Toxic and flammable fumes; that sort of stuff.
And I think plastics don't like acetone.

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Yes. Acetone is useful, but is a hardcore solvent which should be used with caution, in a well-ventilated area. Basically you should treat it like you would gasoline, though I guess it's not quite that volatile.

NEVER use canned air to blow onto your coins. Even if you avoid spraying propellant directly onto the coin (which will create a frozen, then wet spot) you can still spray oils onto the coin that will create nasty spots.

Instead, invest in a small squeeze type air duster intended for photography. I use Giotto Rocket dusters. They are inexpensive, last forever (they pay for themselves fairly quickly vs air cans), and can't harm your coins. They even have more sophisticated versions with HEPA filters on the input, but I've never thought to go that far.

My process is:

Set 2x2 on table surface
Blow both sides inner surface of mylar with the Rocket duster
Blow obverse and reverse of coin with Rocket duster
Set coin onto 2x2
Do a final overall blow with the Rocket duster
Fold and staple

I have found that most long-term problems have been caused by dust particles from the paper 2x2's or from environmental dust getting onto the coins and causing spots. I have a few coins from long ago that I did not blow dust off of and they have spots where the paper dust particles are sitting on the coins. These are the only problems I've seen in 2x2 storage for 30 years so it is what I focus on when storing coins in 2x2s.

This is a tad disturbing. I been plugging several high end Dansco books with uncirculated and proof coins. Always being extremely careful to handle a minimally as possible with cotton gloves.... And ummm.... a dusting off with a clean cotton cloth..... Is the concern that there may be some contamination on the surface causing microscopic scratching?

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Though I generally prefer proof coins to MS, I do not like using them in albums with clear slides like that. If your coins are pristine and valuable enough for you to have all those extreme concerns about near-microscopic particles, then I would submit that perhaps you should not be using slide-type albums like the Danscos and such. While I enjoy such albums for low-to-middling material, I think high-end or pristine/delicate coins like proofs belong in slabs or Air-Tite style holders. When my Dansco 7070 type set got nicer around the millennium, I transitioned to slabs.

I bought what I thought were Safe Flips to store
some of my coins. This was several years ago. I
checked on them the other day and there was some
green film forming. I now have several questions.
How do I remove the green film?
If I am to use acetone where do I buy the recommended
product?
How do I use the product ?
Where can I buy the correct flips?
Any info would greatly be appreciated!!
Thanks in advance!!

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Ouch. That sounds like the classic symptom of PVC contamination, which can be harmful or fatal to your coins over the long term if left untreated. You probably do need to give them an acetone treatment. For that I will refer you to the advice of some of the others here with more experience.

Personally, I have used the readily-avaialable acetone-based fingernail polish removers from the drugstore to remove paint and gummy adhesive residue from inexpensive coins, but others will be quick to (rightly) point out that drugstore nail polish remover is not 100% pure acetone and will usually include some trace amounts of other unnecessary and possibly counterproductive ingredients. It's best to go with the pure stuff if you can find it, though that can involve some inconvenience. Again, I will refer you to the more experienced folks on that.

Archival non-PVC flips can be ordered from most coin supply firms. JP's Corner, which @juris klavins mentioned, is popular. I tend to use Wizard Coin Supply these days and often used Brooklyn Gallery in the past. Both of the latter are fine, in my experience. I've never used JP's Corner but have browsed their site and their prices seemed pretty reasonable on the stuff I was comparing.

A general rule of thumb for coin flips is that the softer and more flexible the plastic is, the more likely it is to contain harmful PVC. Which begs the question of why the soft vinyl PVC flips are still manufactured at all. I don't know the answer to that, but cost-saving may be one reason. Soft vinyl flips are fine for temporary or short-term uses such as transporting and mailing coins. You just want to avoid them for long-term storage, particularly in hotter environments. I just use a "better safe than sorry" approach and try not to use them at all.

Then there's the flip side of the flip issue.

Soft = PVC and PVC = bad news. But...

Hard = brittle and brittle = flips that can crack along the crease and split in two after a few months. This is the downside to the cheaper non-PVC flips, which are safe for coins, but annoying when they're constantly snapping in half.

Fortunately there are some "happy mediums" that are both safe for coins but not too brittle. These days I've started using Meghrig archival quality double-pocket flips, but these seem to be an old-fashioned brand that are sometimes hard to find in stock. The Saflip brand double-pocket flips are good, readily available, and I've used them for over a decade. I only prefer the Mehgrig brand because those have sturdier, heavier plastic and slightly rounded corners.

Good luck. Save and protect those coins. I know the sort of material you collect, and know your coins definitely deserve protection.

Are you sure they are vinyl? Vinyl would be really soft and a bunch of them together would smell like a shower curtain. Quick test to check, shave off a wee bit of the 2x2, heat a copper wire up in a flame and touch the plastic shred so that it melts, return the wire to the flame and a green color indicates chlorine (halogen) which tags it as PVC (Polyvinylchloride or "vinyl").

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I will do the copper wire test this weekend while my My is out of town to avoid.... Well... family issues...... I know what you mean about the shower curtain smell and they don’t have that. I purchased a pile of these many years ago. They aren’t soft vinyl. I think I am OK.

I will do the copper wire test this weekend while my My is out of town to avoid.... Well... family issues...... I know what you mean about the shower curtain smell and they don’t have that. I purchased a pile of these many years ago. They aren’t soft vinyl. I think I am OK.

I found a small bottle of "100% acetone" but it has an additional ingredient "denatonium benzoate" so not sure if that'll be OK or if I should look for what you mentioned.

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Denatonium benzoate and Denatonium saccharide are 2 extremely , but non toxic substances that produce unbelieved bitterness and usually vomiting. Added to many potential harmful things that shouldn't be consumed. Typically in parts per million so it will not cause damage to coins/metal. You can not get many chemicals pure unless you are an educational lab or better. Use it , any change you see was not from it affecting the coin.

Acetone is found in the human body in minute mounts from metabolism, and especially higher in certain medical problems. Gasoline is not~ avoid consuming it.

China has now perfected odorless shower curtains and other vinyl products, so people who buy such have to look carefully. Not smell.

Plant fiber based material such as cloth or paper has a hardness value when dry higher than gold, silver, copper, so I wouldn't use on less than Nickel clad.
IMO. Jim

Denatonium benzoate and Denatonium saccharide are 2 extremely , but non toxic substances that produce unbelieved bitterness and usually vomiting. Added to many potential harmful things that shouldn't be consumed. Typically in parts per million so it will not cause damage to coins/metal. You can not get many chemicals pure unless you are an educational lab or better. Use it , any change you see was not from it affecting the coin.

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You say this and yet people spaz out about using tap water instead of distilled water when many areas have tap water that is fine up to the parts per million level (btw, 10,000 ppm = 1%).

My city water from the Colorado river water reports 2.4 ppm of Arsenic, but the accepted level is 10 Its like taking a mineral pill with every gallon. I personally think the approved public water is better for a person than distilled. No animals developed on earth with distilled water. A lot of people take coffee enemas also, but I have that crossed off of my activities also along with drinking acetone or gasoline

My city water from the Colorado river water reports 2.4 ppm of Arsenic, but the accepted level is 10 Its like taking a mineral pill with every gallon. I personally think the approved public water is better for a person than distilled. No animals developed on earth with distilled water. A lot of people take coffee enemas also, but I have that crossed off of my activities also along with drinking acetone or gasoline

Honestly, I'm not convinced that I want to mess with acetone at all. Do many of you use an acetone dip or is that something I can skip?

Is that due to potential scratching or damaging the surface? Sorry not trying to sound dumb (inexperienced, yes), just trying to learn more.

Is an acetone dip preferred over not doing that at all? Or isn't it truly necessary?

Thanks for the suggestion of rocket dusters. I'll look into those. Great little step-by-step list. Much appreciated.

So you don't use acetone at all then? Just blow the dust off and put into 2x2?

I found a small bottle of "100% acetone" but it has an additional ingredient "denatonium benzoate" so not sure if that'll be OK or if I should look for what you mentioned.

Peanut butter? Seriously? I would have gone a different route, like Nutella or maybe Amish almond butter. Psssh. Peanut butter. What a noob.

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Any additives to a solvent can leave a residue when it dries, so probably the best solvent to get is 91% Isopropyl Alcohol from the drug store or a pharmacy dept. Just let the coin air-dry after using it.

My two cents worth... The cotton cloth would not scratch the coin, but any grit on the coin would be scrubbed around and that might. If the coin is anything less than XF or so, I would be less concerned about "wiping". The acetone rinse (btw, none of that deut... whatever stuff, use that for thinning paint or something) is not a bad idea to remove oils, but not really usually necessary. Make sure the coin is clean, make sure the 2x2 is clean, put it in.

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Anything will scratch if it is wiped over the surface of a coin. I use a Q-tip and ROLL it over the surface.